BBC forced to apologise as they face backlash for tennis's Battle of the Sexes: Fans furious at licence fee being spent on rights for Dubai 'farce' after feed kept cutting out
The event had been mired in controversy since Kyrgios first announced that he would be facing off with women's world No 1 Sabalenka in September during the US Open.
The BBC were forced to offer multiple apologies during their broadcasting of Aryna Sabalenka's Battle of the Sexes showdown with Nick Kyrgios - but fans still vented their fury over both broadcasting issues and the decision to host the contest on social media.
The event had been mired in controversy since Kyrgios first announced that he would be facing off with the women's world No 1 in September.
Its detractors cited the sham of organising a clash between a men's player currently ranked 671st in the world standings and persistently injured, and the woman at the summit of the ATP rankings, as well as Kyrgios' own checkered past as a critic of women's tennis on social media.
News that the BBC had purchased the rights and programmed it on their flagship BBC One channel prompted further criticism, and on Sunday afternoon as the match was being played, social media users were still incensed by the decision.
'It's genuinely dispiriting that our national broadcaster, the BBC, is showing Battle of the Sexes tennis match (Sabalenka vs Kyrgios),' one user wrote. 'An event which cheapens the sport and fundamentally betrays the legacy of Billie Jean King.'
'Why on earth is BBC Sport showing the match between Sabalenka & Kyrgios?' another added.
Nick Kyrgios' victory over Aryna Sabalenka in their Battle of the Sexes match was loaded with controversies on and off the court
The BBC were forced to offer viewers multiple apologies after losing pictures during the clash
'Why don't you make more effort to show the matches tennis fans would prefer to watch?'
A third added: 'The BBC is disgraceful. Billie Jean King was a legend, Kyrgios vs Sabalenka is a joke.'
King herself, who faced off with retired player turned 'chauvinist pig' Bobby Riggs in 1973, was keen to distance the event from her own victory, which proved landmark in prompting cultural change around how women's tennis was perceived.
The 12-time Grand Slam-winner had said before the match that 'the only similarity is that one is a boy and one is a girl. That's it.